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Table of Contents...
- Election Documents: This section contains the full text of all complaints, appeals, decision reports and results of the Spring 2005 KSA General Election.
- Complaints filed with the CRO...
- Complaints...
- Responses by Candidates to Complaints...
- CRO Progress Reports...
- Decision Reports of the CRO (includes CRO's final report)...
- Complaints filed with the Ombudsperson...
- Complaints / Appeals filed before CRO's Final Report...
- Complaints / Appeals filed in response to the CRO's Final Report...
- CRO's Response to the Complaints / Appeals filed with the Ombudsperson...
- Ombudsperson's Final Report...
- Apeals filed in Response to Ombudsperson's Final Report...
- Timeline of Events Prior to the Supreme Court of BC Ruling...
- Supreme Court of BC Ruling on Election...
- Steve's Thoughts on the Election: A section covering candidate Steve Lee's thoughts on the Spring 2005 General Election.
Note: Many files on this page are in "*.PDF" format and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view them. You can download the program for free from Adobe.com
Also, the video files on this page require Microsoft Windows Media Player to view.
1. Election Documents...
As you may have heard, there have been many issues with the Spring General Election, problems that were close to resolution as per the KSA By-Laws and Regulations.
i. Complaints filed with the Chief Returning Officer and the Elections Committee...
a. Complaints...
The following documents contain the full text of all complaints from various individuals as received by the CRO and posted online in this form on the Official Website of the Society during the Spring 2005 General Election.
Table of Contents...
b. Responses by Candidates to Complaints...
The following documents contain the full text of all responses received from various individuals in regards to the various complaints received by the CRO during the Spring 2005 General Election as posted online in this form on the Official Website of the Society at the time of the election.
Table of Contents...
c. CRO Progress Reports...
The following documents are the full text reports as issued by the CRO in regards to his progress on various activities related to the Spring 2005 General Election, as posted online in this form on the Official Website of the Society during the election.
Table of Contents...
d. Decision Reports of the CRO...
The following documents contain the full text decisions of the CRO in regards to the various complaints and responses received during the Spring 2005 General Election, as posted online in this form during the election.
Table of Contents...
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ii. Complaints filed with the Ombudsperson
a. Complaints / Appeals filed before CRO's Final Report...
The following documents are complaints filed with the Ombudsperson before the CRO's final report, in regards to decisions made by the CRO in his decision reports (numbers 1 through 4) during the Spring 2005 General Election.
Table of Contents...
b. Complaints / Appeals filed in response to the CRO's Final Report...
The following documents are complaints filed with the Ombudsperson in response to decisions made by the CRO in his final report as issued during the Spring 2005 General Election.
Table of Contents...
c. CRO's Response to the Complaints / Appeals filed with the Ombudsperson...
Table of Contents...
d. Ombudsperson's Final Report...
The following documents are the Ombudsperson's final report on the Spring 2005 General Election. The report(s) were not sent out to all candidates (to this day I have never received official copies directly from the Ombudsperson in response to the complaints I filed), and the first copy as presented was actually received by the lawyers representing RAF candidates (the ruling letters from May 2 and 3 were later found in the KSA offices in late 2006, along with the April 27 letter by Derek Francis). I found it unusual that the report was not sent out to everyone involved in the election.
Table of Contents...
e. Appeals Filed in Response to Ombudsperson's Final Report...
I submitted a number of appeals / responses to the Ombudsperson regarding his report, but to date have not received a response from the Ombudsperson in regards to any of them.
Table of Contents...
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iii. Timeline of Events Prior to the BC Supreme Court Ruling...
April 27, 2005...
- On April 27, 2005 members of the RAF Party used the above final report of the Ombudsperson to pursuade Kwantlen University College to give them control over the Kwantlen Student Association Offices.
- As of this date, no one in the KSA nor any non-RAF candidate had been given copy of what the Ombudsperson sent to RAF or the institution.
- The locks were changed and Aaron Takhar personally oversaw the issuing of new keys only to people who had "won the election."
April 28, 2005...
- CRO Ron Corell sends an e-mail to all candidates, attaching his FINAL REPORT of the Election.
- After taking over the KSA offices, the RAF Party prepared to hold a Board of Directors Meeting on April 29, 2005. The following two documents are e-mail correspondence regarding the notice of this meeting...
- Furthermore:
- no official agenda was ever produced or distributed for the April 29, 2005 meeting; and
- it is my understanding that the April 29, 2005 RAF meeting was postponed until Wednesday, May 4, 2005.
April 29, 2005...
- A regularly scheduled meeting of the 2004-05 KSA Board of Directors took place on April 29, 2005...
April 30, 2005...
May 1, 2005...
May 2, 2005...
- Notice of the May 4, 2005 RAF KSA Council meeting appears online at the Official KSA website. Steve Lee sends an e-mail regarding this posting to Desmond Rodenbour and Laura Anderson.
- An article appears in the Surrey Now: University locks doors during power struggle by Brooke Larsen
- An information campaign was launched by numerous non-RAF candidates, as well as members of the 2004-05 KSA Board of Directors and other students. The leaflets that were drawn up were available in three formats as follows...
- The leaflets were also made available on this website for people to access in May 2005.
May 3, 2005...
May 4, 2005...
- Laura Anderson sends out an update to the 2004-05 KSA Board of Directors and other supporters regarding KSA Ombudsperson Paul Browning.
- The RAF KSA holds its Council meeting.
- No official agenda was produced for the May 4, 2005 meeting.
- Minutes were completed for this meeting, however, they were never formally distributed to anyone, nor were they ever posted on the official KSA website.
Update: In April 2007, copy of the May 4, 2005 minutes were found in files relating to the Spring 2005 General Election that had been kept by the Ombudsperson...
- The 2004-05 KSA Board of Directors issues a press release regarding the current situation.
- The 2004-05 KSA Board of Directors receives the Report of the Ombudsperson through RAF Lawyer Don Crane.
May 5, 2005...
- General Manager Desmond Rodenbour, on behalf of the 2004-05 Board of Directors sends a letter to CUPE 2396 regarding the current situation at the KSA.
May 6, 2005...
May 10, 2005...
- The various issues surrounding the Spring 2005 KSA General Election and the take-over of the offices by the RAF Party are heard before the Honourable Mr. Justice Maczko of the BC Supreme Court.
Table of Contents...
iv. BC Supreme Court Ruling (May 12, 2005)...
Table of Contents...
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2. Steve's thoughts on the Election...
Originally Posted: May 2005
Overall, I think it's a fair ruling, and I'm glad certain interpretations made by RAF's counsel were not held up. It's funny though, the main crux of the reasoning could've been adverted if Council had simply adopted my recommendations I submitted back in November 2004. Instead, they decided not to adopt the dates I laid out, or even to just temporarily appoint Ron as CRO and direct him to still find a committee, rather they wanted an outside organization to run the election. But with only a few weeks in November, when ideally you should have things ready to be advertised by early December - how can you work out a contract, a budget and find someone suitable to run an election in a matter of only a few weeks, if you are to get it going for early January (my dates had for a nomination period that was the maximum amount of time you could have nominations open)?
I am still somewhat upset that the appeals of my own party were not given the proper consideration they should have been, and I feel that the CRO's findings in terms of spending was probably on the mark and that the penalties issued should have applied to all parties. It was clearly shown by the CRO that both the RAF Party and the Progressive Party Executives lied about their spending - and as such, both parties should have been disqualified. But the only other process of appeal for members of my party would be under Section 85 of the Societies Act - a process that can take more than a year to complete. So that probably will not be pursued by CSI candidates.
So at least this is all over, and the KSA can get back to doing real work. I vow to keep a sharp eye on the new executive, to make sure they don't run amuck, as I have tried to do over the last year as a Council member. I think we have some good people all around, on both sides of this issue, and I hope everyone can put this behind them and get to working for the students that elected us. Too much time has been lost to this process.
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